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By now you've most likely heard of Facebook's new
Graph Search, which essentially allows you to search for things
based on the interests and recommendations of your friends, as
well as their friends. While the tool should potentially be
useful for searching for specific pieces of information on
Facebook, it is, at least in its beta version, seriously flawed.

I've spent the last week testing Graph Search, and I'm
disappointed with it. Sure, it performs well when telling you who
your friends are, what categories they fall under, where they
live and what they do, but as of now that's about it. Instead of
developing an innovative search tool that gives us a new way to
search and offers an information alternative, Graph Search is
your same cookie cutter search engine. If you ask former Facebook
executive Dave Morin, this tool is nothing new at all -- it's a
product that existed as far back as 2006, but was
eventually eliminated.

1. The interface. The top search bar with drop
down results is limited and isn't user-friendly for those who are
accustomed to searching for things and getting more than five or
six items from a drop down.

2. The lack of privacy. People are going to get
to see everything you have ever liked, things you probably don't
even realize you liked and hardly recommend to friends.

3. Using 'likes' as recommendations. Search
engine? A more accurate description is "like engine."

The most glaring issue is basing its search results on the Like
button -- that feature that some of us never use and others use
hundreds of times a day without thinking about it. Facebook users
often are encouraged to like a page to get additional
information, make a comment, complain, enter a contest or because
a friend asked them to even though they know nothing about that
page or business.

So, in basing its search results on likes, Facebook is making
some big assumptions:

What you liked, say, five years ago, you still like.

When you liked a page, it means you highly recommend that
page or business to your friends.

That you weren't tricked or accidentally liked something.

That you audit your likes, or even know how to.

It's wrong to make all of those assumptions. Also keep in mind
that people don't always like a business on Facebook that they
like in real life. For instance, would I really have a burning
desire to like my local Chinese restaurant on Facebook? The food
is awesome, but unless I click on that Like button, my friends
will never know it's my favorite place when they search Facebook
for a Chinese restaurant in my area.

What this means for business and brand pages: It
will become necessary to get as many likes as possible if you
have any hope of showing up in the Graph Search. Don't be
surprised if many companies start advertising and campaigning
specifically to get people to like their pages, which means the
Like action will lose its relevance, as will the Graph Search
data.

Do you think Graph Search will be a useful new tool
for businesses? Let us know in the comments below.